


Sweet Talk

by Isilfic (Isilweth)



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan), Iron Man (2008)
Genre: 1000-3000 words, Community: help_haiti, Cross-Posted on LiveJournal, Crossover, M/M, Originally Posted on LiveJournal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-14
Updated: 2010-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-07 06:29:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isilweth/pseuds/Isilfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set immediately post-TDK. Bruce doesn't like what he reads in the paper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet Talk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heeroluva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heeroluva/gifts).



> **Thanks** to [](http://heeroluva.livejournal.com/profile)[**heeroluva**](http://heeroluva.livejournal.com/) for the prompt and generous donation to [Doctors Without Borders](http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/) for [](http://community.livejournal.com/help_haiti/profile)[**help_haiti**](http://community.livejournal.com/help_haiti/) and to [](http://fictionalknight.livejournal.com/profile)[**fictionalknight**](http://fictionalknight.livejournal.com/) for the brainstorming, encouragement, and beta. Any remaining mistakes are my own.

Bruce raced along the Sprang river. His muscles ached as he pushed the Batpod to it's limits. The police were after him, but he didn't have time to reconsider the ramifications of taking on Dent's actions as The Batman's. Harvey was too much of an inspiration. Too important as a measure of hope for Gotham. His memory needed to be untainted. The Batman could be redeemed... later.

His knee scraped the ground as he took a sharp corner onto O'Neill Drive. It was more than pressure against the Kevlar weave of his suit. His knee cap was crushed between the street and the bike. He didn't yet feel the pain, but his lower leg was out of control and he lost crucial acceleration on the bike. GCP swat and the DEO goons were gaining on him.

Bruce maneuvered the cycle into a low spin to seek shelter beneath the overpass on-ramp to Bludhaven.

Too late. A slug pierced his armor and into his chest beneath his arm. His nerves shut down to protect him from the pain as he lost sensation across his right side. Against his will, he lost his grip on the speeding Batpod. He saw, more than felt the vehicle flying out from beneath him, continuing on its way while he stayed momentarily suspended in the air.

He did not fall.

In that split second, strong metallic arms were beneath him and the Iron Man's chest plate hummed and glowed up against his bare jaw.

"Dammit, no! Get the hell out of here, Tony! Leave Gotham alone." He swung at his savior without aiming.

"I'm sorry, what was that. Can't hear you - wind shear." Tony's flippant response infuriated him, but gave him something to focus on beside the intense pain that had started to overtake his right side.

"You are an ass. And you're flying too close to the treeline."

"Everyone's a critic. I'm taking you for help. Jarvis... " Bruce barely had time to register the piercing into his neck before he lost consciousness.

 

Bruce awoke to find himself all the way across the country in Tony's Malibu beach house.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." Tony's ludicrously chipper voice.

Bruce squinted around the sunlight drenched room. "It's too damn bright in here, you know." He was sore, but a quick inspection revealed his wounds had been tended, in fact he had been well-cared for while a small amount of healing had already occurred. Instinct and experience told him he'd been out for more than a few hours.

"Jarvis, screen the windows."

As the windows darkened to allow less sunlight into the room, a smooth, mechanical voice that pointedly did not remind him of Alfred replied, "Yes, sir."

"How the hell did I get here?" Bruce wasn't going to be placated by Tony's impeccable charm; Bruce knew very well how to fake that and he imagined Tony did, too. He wasn't about to fall for Tony's pleasant facade.

Tony scrunched up his nose in that way he had when mildly amused. "You tell me, smart guy."

Bruce hated that nickname; it was condescending coming from an acknowledged genius. "I was saving my city when you swooped in and ruined everything. Gotham's probably a mess now."

Tony waggled his eyebrows. "Your city is in good hands. Jim Gordon's been promoted to Police Commissioner." Tony dropped _The Gotham Gazette_ onto the bed.

"Hh." Bruce flipped open the paper to read. It wasn't long before he threw the paper across the immaculate room. "This is preposterous!"

"Excuse me?" Tony nibbled at Bruce's ear.

"Damn Vicki Vale!" Bruce swatted Tony away from him.

"Yes, those bombshell reporters. They can be troublesome." Tony sat back and finally frowned, "I repeat: What happened?"

Bruce glared, but that just seemed to bring the mirth back to Tony's expression. "It's been two days. Why did you drag me all the way across the country when my city needs me?"

"You wouldn't have been any use to "your city" in the state you're currently in, anyway." Tony leaned in again, but while Tony may have had the technological advantage, and Bruce could even admit the intellectual advantage, Bruce was the superior physically and psychologically; Bruce delivered a pinch to the proper nerve cluster and Tony fell back onto the bed and off of Bruce.

Tony's eyes widened, but the challenge seemed to please him rather than scare him. "Ooh, that's very interesting. You'll have to show me that one."

Bruce snorted. "This is ridiculous." Bruce was tired of sitting doing nothing. He had to get moving. Get back to Gotham and set things right. He moved to sit up on the bed and immediately regretted it - his right side was stiff and biting pains sprang up from his knee and chest.

Bruce persisted anyway, moving off the bed and forcing himself to take the four steps to the window. He allowed himself to lean against the railing and to look out at the ocean spread before him. It was quite a view. He closed his eyes to it and to the pain. Looked inward and centered. Focused past the pain in his body to settle the turmoil in his heart and mind. He could be as steady as the ocean tide. Back and forth.

He felt rather than heard Tony approach behind him. The calloused hands linked together over his belly while the warm hum of the arc reactor pressed against his back. Steadying him. Tony's stubble was rough against his cheek.

"I think you should just admit it."

"Hh." Bruce breathed in the smell of Tony's aftershave - not as expensive as his own, but still a scent from real floral extracts rather than manufactured _Eau de toilette_. It calmed him, even as it didn't soothe him. Two more breaths before he allowed himself to speak. His tone was neutral, as though they weren't discussing those matters most important to him.

"Which should I admit? That we're lovers and send my stockholders into a frenzy? Or that I'm Batman and send them equally panicking?" He opened his eyes to stare at the vast expanse before him. "I'd have to leave Gotham or Jim would be forced to arrest me. Alfred may even be implicated as an accomplice. Lucius would be forced to resign, leaving Wayne Enterprises open to yet another hostile takeover... "

Tony's fingers tapped against his belly, working their way lower with every beat. "Or... you could claim you were on a yacht with a bunch of ballerinas in the South Pacific and missed the whole thing... "

Bruce felt a wry grin trying to force it's way onto his face. He put his hands over Tony's and purposely moved them back up to his belly. "Ha. Ha." Tony was nibbling his ear again; the man was nothing if not persistent. "I'll tell them I was on a yacht with you in the South Pacific and missed the whole thing."

Tony stopped nibbling. "Mmm... and how will we explain Iron Man's swooping in to save the day?"

"Ruin the day, not save it," Bruce growled. "We'll tell them you left me there."

"And your injuries were the result of an unfortunate water skiing accident?"

Bruce actually laughed. "Alfred says I should claim they're from Polo."

"Polo? How does one play that exactly?"

"I have no idea."

"Polo it is then. Now, come back to bed... " This time Bruce let Tony lead him to the expansive bed covered in soft silk sheets. He settled in to relax and enjoy Tony's ministrations.


End file.
